Closer look: Papírový servis (2011)

When I was first thinking about making a blog about the series, one of the ideas rolling around in my head was to review every episode produced up to that point. That would have been a monumental task and one that I'm glad I abandoned. However, from time to time, I will take a closer look at some of the episodes and those posts will function as kind of a review. That explains the title of the post and here is the episode I'm talking about today. This time, the YouTube video was uploaded by the studio themselves, Patmat film:

Produced in 2011, it is the third episode from the Pat a Mat na venkově (Pat & Mat in the Countryside) series, which I haven't covered much yet. Even though I cannot find any mention of it at the moment, I remember reading an article about this episode premiering on the Zlín Film Festival. It is my favorite episode from that 13-episode series made over six years, mostly because of its absurdist plot. The plot is divided into three parts: 1) Pat & Mat enjoying their meal, 2) the two trying out ways to produce paper plates and 3) the two producting paper plates infinitely. Even though this is a longer episode (8:30 in length), only the second part lags a bit, while I like the tempo of the other two parts. As is the custom with episodes from Patmat, the first shot shows the setting where the action takes place.

This rustic setting was replicated in the 2009 Pat & Mat computer game. I like the general atmosphere of this series, which undoubtedly purposefully harkens back to the 1982-85 episodes set in the countryside as well. The opening of the episode is somewhat an anti-opening for the series; in it, everything goes well and the two handymen show skill and imagination in coming up with different paper tableware. They enjoy sausages, the local Kremžska mustard and some foreign ketchup with a funny label - strašně hot (terribly hot).

The core team that made this episode consisted of only four people from the Patmat film studio, which is in actuality 60 square meters located in an apartment house's basement in Hostivice near Prague. From right to left, Marek Beneš wrote and directed the episode, Jan Bouzek built the sets and most of the props, Jan Chvojka was the cameraman and Jan Smrčka the animator. Here they are in 2010 working on the previous episode, Vodovod:

archive photo from the studio's website

Uncredited animation scenes in ... a je to!

As a follow-up to my post about Jan Klos and his uncredited animation work in three episodes (link here), here a few scenes from other ... a je to! episodes which were done by animators "dropping by" to episodes assigned to their colleagues.

Skokani
Credited animator: Jan Klos

Notice anything different? The first scene of the episode was in fact animated by Karel Chocholín or somebody using his puppets (from the credited crew, this could only be assistant animator David Fílcik). The first scene is followed by one with a butterfly Pat notices and then we cut back to the two characters, but the puppets have changed. The rest of the episode is all Jan Klos' work.

What's in a name?

This is the first post to be published after the corona virus has spread through Europe and its pandemic has been declared. I wish all of you good health. Please follow the advice of medical experts and protect yourselves and your loved ones. Only together can we beat the virus in this difficult time. Stay safe!

Pat & Mat is a show famous all over the world. However, the official name of the series as it is today only came about after the series had already been sold to more than 40 countries. Here is a list of names of the show in different countries, taken from Wikipedia. Users from all over the world have amended it with titles from their respective countries.

Language(s)	Title(s)
Arabic	"زينغو و رينغو" (Zingo and Ringo)
Catalan	"En Pat i en Mat"
Croatian	"A je to! (I to je to!) Pat i Mat"
Danish	"Naboerne Per & Mads (The Neighbors Per & Mads)"
Dutch*	"Buurman en Buurman" (Neighbour and Neighbour), formerly "De twee stuntels" (The two klutzes)
English	"Pat and Mat"
Estonian	"Meistrimehed Pat ja Mat" (Handymen Pat and Mat)
Finnish	"Hupsis!, Pat ja Mat" (Oops!, Pat and Mat)
German	"… und fertig!" (... and that's it!), "Pat und Mat", "Peter und Paul", "Sepp und Heiri" (in Switzerland), "Mack und Macke (in DDR)
Hungarian	"Kétbalkezesek" (Fumblers) (literally "2 Left Handers"), Pat és Mat
Icelandic	"Klaufabárðarnir" (The clumsy guys)
Japanese	"パットとマット"
Korean	"패트와 매트"
Macedonian	"Пат и Мат"
Norwegian	"To gode naboer" (Two Good Neighbours)
Persian	"!همینه " (This is it!) also "پت و مت" (Pat & Mat)
Polish	"Sąsiedzi (The Neighbours), Pat i Mat"
Portuguese	"Zeca e Joca"
Romanian	"Asta e! Pat și Mat"
Russian	"Тяпа и Ляпа" (Tlyapa and Lyapa), "Пат и Мат", "Соседи" (Neighbours)
Slovenian	"A je to! Pat in Mat"
South-Africa	"Hans en Mans"
Spanish	"Los Chapuceros", "Pat y Mat"
Swedish	"Två snubbar (Two dudes)
Welsh	"Now a Ned"

The international titles can be divided into four groups: 1) ... a je to! and its translations (... und fertig!),  2) distinctive, native names for the two characters (Zingo & Ringo), 3) variations of Pat and Mat after 1989 and 4) usually one-word titles referring to both of the characters, mostly pointing out that they are neighbours (Sąsiedzi). Some of these are also combinations of one of the above, like the Dutch Buurman en Buurman.

This post is, however, primarily concerned with how the original names came to be in the first place.

As explained by his son Marek, the genesis of the handymen duo were comic strips by Lubomír Beneš published in local newspapers. They featured two characters named pan (Mr.) Ouholíček and pan Sedlec. The names were borrowed from two villages near Roztoky, where Beneš lived, Úholičky and Sedlec, which you can easily find on Google Maps these days. Unfortunately, no other details about these comic strips were ever put forward by Marek. We don't know what the characters looked like or where and when were the strips published.

In 1976, our heroes were truly born when Beneš and dramaturge Jiří Kubíček, who had worked together since 1974, were joined by cartoonist Vladimír Jiránek. In an interview, Beneš stated that he and Jiránek "locked themselves in the studio and drew and designed until they came to the look of the two figures". Below, you can see Marek Beneš holding the first page of the technical screenplay for the premiere short, Kuťáci. The cover reveals that its working title was Podařené dopoledne (A Nice Morning) and projected length 197 meters. You can see the names I previously mentioned, with additions next to them: Ouholíček became Červeňák (Red), while Sedlec became Žluťák (Yellow).

photo: ČT show Gejzír

What does Kuťáci even mean, you ask? Well, it's not that easy to explain. The official translation used in the 1990s was The Tinkers and it's mostly there. Kuťáci (pronounced coo-tyah-tsee for all you non-Czechs) is the plural form of the noun kuťák - notice the rhyming analogy to Žluťák and Červeňák; a common name for the two characters in Czech is also ajeťáci, derived from the name of the series I discuss down below. Kuťák in itself seems to be a bit of an obscure expression, as I couldn't find it in any Czech online dictionary, while it also appears as a surname. I've been informed by a Czech speaker that kuťák is, as I suspected, a colloquial term for handyman, obviously related to the formal designation kutil.

New series premieres

A new episode, the first of 13 from the new series Pat a Mat kutí (Pat & Mat do DIY - there's no official translation yet), was released on March 5. It is episode 33 (meaning ep. 7/13 in the series) and was posted on Attraction Distribution's (one of the worldwide distributors of the series) Vimeo profile (link here), but the video posted there is slowed down, so here's a link to a corrected version from a dedicated Polish fan. The title is Automyčka, or Car Wash:

I thought this was a funny and satisfying episode, not a bad way to open the new series. The previous 6 episodes were released on December 17 last year and are officially available free of charge on this link: https://www.televizeseznam.cz/porad/pat-mat

UPDATE, March 11: The titles for the next 13 episodes with screenshots have just been announced on Patmat film's website. Click the following links for Czech or English lists.

I haven't had a chance to cover the newest episodes on this blog yet, so this is an occasion to air out some opinions and criticisms of them. This episode is one of 39 episodes split into three 13-part series: Pat a Mat nás baví (Pat & Mat Entertain Us), Pat a Mat v zimě (Pat & Mat in Winter) and the new series, which is basically the first series renamed. Although the episodes are still technically on a high level and were made the same way as older episodes (the only difference being digitization: they are now shot digitally in 4K), the newest episodes generally can't hold a candle to older episodes. It can be said that the newest episodes are all decent, but not much else. There are not (m)any stand-out episodes and there aren't many really bad ones.

The first series, Pat a Mat nás baví, was especially disappointing. It was the first series with these characters that I didn't really enjoy overall and I consider it a step down from Pat & Mat in the Countryside (Pat a Mat na venkově), the series that preceded it. The winter series was an improvement, so I hope the third one will be as well. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not against making new episodes, but I am against making 39 of them in 3 years, numbers which were not reached even when three studios produced episodes at the same time. I'm afraid that is just hyperproduction. Although we can all agree that the heights of ...a je to! will never be reached again, there is always potential for good adventures with these characters if we tread carefully.

The car wash contraption from the episode

Director Marek Beneš has stated that finding new ideas for the episodes is really tough. This was painfully obvious in the often boring and monotonous first series and prompted the studio to hire new writers, specifically Štěpán Gajdoš, who was born in 1997, just like the author of this blog. Interestingly, the story credit for this episode is the first ever given to Kees Prins, the voice of Pat in Dutch dubbings. In this interview from 2018, Prins said:

Well, they did approach us to maybe think about ideas for episodes, because they are now - I believe - making 36 of them, with a master plan of 81 in total. So, they also need feedback from other people, and, of course, it is very nice that they have asked us. I said: first, let me think. Then, I made three stories and sent them to the studio. And they have already chosen one of those three, it still has to be made, but it is already in the pipeline.

Other interesting story shouts are Ladislav Pálka, the Ateliery Bonton Zlín director from 2003-04 (maybe an unused script from that time) and this episode's animator's son.

Even though it was fun, I feel this episode would have been even better if it was condensed into a 7-minute episode with the action sped up. Pacing is problematic in the new series. The action often feels overdrawn; there is a sense that not much (or rather not enough) is happening, which wasn't the case with Countryside. A further hindrance is that all episodes are timed to exactly 8:00, which leaves no room for improvisation during filming. In 2003-04, the episodes were timed to 7:00. The slowing down might also be connected to the target audience: as promotional leaflets say, the new series is marketed to children aged 3-8.

Mensdorff-Pouilly working on a yet unreleased episode (volskrant.nl)

"I did not want to spend the next 15 years animating 30-odd episodes with one animator", Beneš said in an interview, referring to the 2011-15 episodes, where Jan Smrčka worked as the sole animator. Now, seven animators, two Czech and five Chinese, get to do the work. Without much guessing, I can say that Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly animated this episode in its entirety. His handprint is all over it: the fluid, but unique way the characters move (notice their wobbly walk cycle), and Mat's appearance cannot be missed. However, I noticed a certain stiffness in some scenes of the episode, which is probably a result of the fast production schedule. The stiffness can especially be noticed in episodes animated in an unnamed Chinese studio, where young animators work to get these episodes out faster. I've tried to find out the name of the studio, but it has never been mentioned in any interview. Googling the Chinese names listed in the credits also doesn't turn up any results. Beneš criticized the studio in this 2019 interview, saying they finished the episodes later than Patmat film was originally told. These delays meant the studio had to ask for an extension of their 2-year deal with Czech Television. Yet another evidence of a the production being quite hectic is that post-production mistakes occur here and there: look at this scene from the episode, where part of the frame is left unused.

Countryside, the series preceding these three new series, had a much more nostalgic atmosphere and was overall more enjoyable. An important factor in that was also Petr Skoumal's music. Skoumal sadly passed away in 2014 and the last four Countryside episodes had to be completed with music he composed for previous episodes. The new composer is Zdeněk Zdeněk, who possesses years of experience in composing animated series. Skoumal's shoes are very tough to fill after 90 episodes and Zdeněk was only partially successful - I was often annoyed with his music in the first series as I thought there was a certain overload in that department. He improved during the winter series, but there is one major objection I have regardinv his scores - not counting titles, he has never utilized the Pat & Mat theme in any way. As Skoumal used it in practically every 2000s episode, this is a step away from tradition. Older viewers would be pleased to hear the old theme here and there.

Marek Beneš, Zdeněk Zdeněk (patmat.cz)

One of the reasons older viewers still tune into Pat & Mat is that they are given a nostalgia trip, something which, I believe, they can't quite get from these episodes. Before writing this post, I talked with some older viewers and consulted Czech reviews; most of them say that a certain magic and charm of the series has been lost. To paraphrase an old title, you could hear them say: ... and that's not it! 

our heroes

Maybe that's a bit too harsh. The new episodes still remain a unique programme. They are surely interesting to children audiences even though they won't be an older fan's cup of tea. No matter what, it is still Pat & Mat. This blog will therefore continue to keep track of new episodes as they start to appear in the future. Patmat film is currently preparing production of further new episodes, which will start next year.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the newest episodes in the comments below.

Jan Klos: seized credits?

As most readers of this blog have figured out by now, I love identifying animators and comparing their work on different Pat & Mat episodes. Each and every one of them brought their own interpretation of how the characters should move and act, sometimes probably unconsciously. In my previous post, I mentioned how Jan Klos is probably the best animator of them all when it comes to scenes where the character and personality is most important.

Jan Klos working in 1976 (photo: Ivan Vít)

This post, however, deals with strange animation credits on ... a je to! episodes from 1984 and 1985. Pat & Mat series usually had two animators handling most of the episodes; in the aiF era, those two were František Váša and Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly. In 1979, the two animators were Karel Chocholín and Xenie Vavrečková. In 1981-1983, it was Karel Chocholín again and Jan Klos. However, an unusal discrepancy in the credits happened in 1984 and 1985. Instead of Jan Klos, Ján Keks was credited for animation on Korčule and Hrnčiari, while Karel Klos was credited for Porucha. Interestingly, the Jan Klos credit was replaced with Ján Keks very noticeably ― you can literally see the smudges left by someone erasing L and O and replacing them with E and K.

1982

1984

1984

1985

Here also is the animation credit for Porucha, this time redone completely:

 

This is something that I always found strange. I've seen these episodes so many times and in the end arrived to the following conclusion: I believe that Keks and Karel Klos are in fact the same person - Jan Klos. Of course, my intuition is not enough to sell that statement. Here then are some other arguments for my case: